The Giant Spider Invasion

Infobox Film
name = The Giant Spider Invasion


image_size =
caption =
director = Bill Rebane
producer = William W. Gillett Jr.
Richard L. Huff
Bill Rebane
writer = Robert Easton
Richard L. Huff
starring = Steve Brodie
Robert Easton
Barbara Hale
Alan Hale Jr.
Christiane Schmidtmer
music = Bill Rebane
cinematography = Jack Willoughby
editing = Barbara Pokras
distributor = Group 1 International Distribution Organization Ltd.
released = flagicon|US October 1975
flagicon|Mexico December 30, 1976
runtime = 84 min.
country = U.S.A.
language = English
budget = $300,000 (estimate)
amg_id = 1:19713
imdb_id = 0073043

"The Giant Spider Invasion" is a low-budget, 1975 film produced by Cinema Group 75 and directed by Bill Rebane. The film is about giant spiders that terrorize the town of Merrill, Wisconsin and the surrounding area. "The Giant Spider Invasion" was given a U.S. release in theaters in 1975, and was distributed by Group 1 Films. The impressive theatrical poster art was a throwback to the giant monster movies of the 1950s. The film was shown mainly in drive-in theaters. The movie achieved additional exposure many years later, when it was featured in a 1997 episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" ("MST3K") (season 8, episode 10).

The film gives major roles to some actors who might have been considered "has-beens" at the time. The leads were Steve Brodie and Barbara Hale, with other roles going to Alan Hale, Jr. and Leslie Parrish. The film's final monster - and the film's largest "giant spider" - was constructed by covering a Volkswagen automobile with artificial fur. The back of the car was the front of the monster, and its red tail lights served as the monster's glowing eyes. A few other "giant spiders" were puppets representing spiders as large as dogs.

Plot

The central plot of the film revolves around the titular spider invasion, which occurs when what appears to be a meteorite crashes down in rural Wisconsin, and spawns spiders of varying sizes. (The titular spider is large enough to swallow a man whole, and crawl onto the roof of a house.)

Subplots include:

* Dan Kester and his hate/hate relationship with his wife, Ev
* Dan's adulterous affair with local barmaid Helga
* Dave Perkins' attempts to make out with Ev's sister Terry
* A fundamentalist preacher leading a revival meeting
* Drs. Vance and Langer getting involved in somewhat of a romance (all the more notable as the two lead actors were also in their early-mid 50s when the movie was made)
* The eventual panic that results when the townspeople are confronted with the spider

The invasion is deduced (with various scientific-sounding language) to be the result of some sort of interdimensional gateway, and is ultimately thwarted when Drs. Vance and Langer manage to close off the gateway, draining the spiders of their energy and causing them to melt down.

Cast

*Despite the film's B-movie status, it does feature a cast that, if not exactly a "star-studded" one, contains members that are at least familiar to most North American TV and film viewers of the period:
**Alan Hale, Jr.(Sheriff Jones), best known for his role as Skipper on the TV series "Gilligan's Island". This is jokingly referenced in his first line of the film, when he calls Dave "little buddy". He also appeared in two other "MST3K" episodes, "Angels Revenge" and "The Crawling Hand".
**Barbara Hale (Dr. Jenny Langer), best known for her role of Della Street in numerous "Perry Mason" episodes and TV-movies; married to actor Bill Williams, who played alongside her as Dutch in this film (a point of interest unrelated to this film: their son is actor William Katt).
**Robert Easton (Dan Kester), known as the "Henry Higgins of Hollywood" (at least, in his [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0247691/ IMDB Entry] ) due to his mastery of numerous accents and dialects. He also appeared in the "MST3K" episode "The Touch of Satan", and provided the voice of "Phones" in "Stingray".
**Leslie Parrish (Ev Kester), played roles as varied as Daisy Mae in the "Lil' Abner" film and the doomed bride of the assassin in the 1962 film version of "The Manchurian Candidate".
**Both Ev and Dan also had links to the "Star Trek" series; Leslie Parrish played Lt. Carolyn Palamas in the Original Series episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?", while Robert Easton played the Klingon judge in the film "Star Trek VI".
**Steve Brodie (Dr. J.R. Vance), already known to "MST3K" fans for his appearance in the film "The Wild World of Batwoman"; his son, Kevin Brodie also appeared in this film, playing Dave Perkins.
**Christiane Schmidtmer (Helga), best known in America as the sexy Lufthansa stewardess Lise Bruner in Boeing Boeing.

Director

*Director Bill Rebane had a festival given in his honor; the "Bill Rebane Film Festival" took place in Madison, Wisconsin in May 2005. Hosting the festival were "MST3K" stars Michael J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy. In an article recapping the festival in "Scary Monsters Magazine", the two noted that although they lambasted the film during their show, they admired how Rebane was able to pull cast and crew together to get the film made.

Picture

*At the beginning, you can hear a pilot talking about the giant spider he has seen. That person is David Hoff, an actual pilot in the Wisconsin Air-Guard.
*The television control room sequence was shot after sign-off at WAOW-TV, Wausau, Wisconsin. Instead of post production (green-screen) insertion of the screen images, live displays were used. The flying saucer was a provided by the lead producer (name unknown) made with such materials as a paperplate overexposed. The electronic equipment was operated by Ralph Reinhold.
*The planetarium sequence was shot in the Astronomy Department at UW-Stevens Point.

Home releases

* A VHS release of the film in the mid-1980s was distributed by Media Home Entertainment. The "MST3K" version was been released by Rhino Home Video, as part of the "Collection, Volume 10" and "Collection, Volume 10.2" box sets. The film is otherwise not available in official stand-alone DVD form.

External links

*
* [http://www.mst3kinfo.com/aceg/8/810/ep810.html MST3K Episode Guide: The Giant Spider Invasion]